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tv   Americas Newsroom  FOX News  August 23, 2013 9:00am-11:00am EDT

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morning? [ cheers and applause ] the new album is out. go out and get it. you have one more song in you, guys? >> i think we can do one more. >> brian: what is it? >> "here we go again." >> ainsley: in the after the show show. health care law as we hear reports today, cities and towns across the nation are cutting the hours of their workers to avoid paying for their health insurance. this is a story we've heard in the private sector and creeping into the public sector as well. good morning, everybody, i'm martha maccallum in "america's newsroom." gregg: i'm gregg jarrett in for bill hemmer. obamacare provides many employers to provide coverage to anyone who works at least 30 hours a week. but to get around that, some employers are just cutting back on the hours this report coming just days after ups announced it will not provide coverage to husbands and wives of employees who can get insurance on their
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own. martha: ups is not alone in this. many employers fear they will not be able to afford it. some saying they still don't know what's in the law. this is years after it was signed into law and nancy pelosi famously said this. >> we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it away from the fog of the controversy. martha: the truth is, we are still finding out what's in it, stuart. companies are still scratching their heads saying we're not really sure how this will affect us and what it will cost us. stuart is the host of "varney & company" on the fox business network. what do you make of this latest news? >> it is changing the work place profoundly. it is hurting lower paid people in particular. three out of four new jobs created to the household survey are part-time. that's the big shift in the work place. an now we've got cities, towns and states all across-country
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going to more part-time work as opposed to full-time work, because of, here comes obamacare. i have a town in new jersey, counties in texas, florida, virginia, wisconsin, all of them moving to part-time work. that is, less than 30 hours a week. even though the employer mandate, you've got to provide health care if you have more than 50 full-time employees, that's 16 months away but these cities and states, they're getting in on the act early because they face renegotiation of labor contracts. changing the work place profoundly, martha. martha: it is so true and we've heard it from some of the biggest unions themselves saying that the 40-hour work week that americans have come to know and love and lived the lifestyle of for decades and decade is truly in jeopardy here. we heard the president talking about health care yesterday, stuart. he said the costs are rising at the smallest rate we've seen in years. so where's the disconnect here? >> well that's accurate.
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but they are rising. the cost of health carries still rising. it is still going up. and that's before we get these exchanges, before the full implementation of obamacare, when health insurance costs for individuals is likely to go up a great deal more. here's the bottom line, martha. income, down, hours worked, down, and that's affecting those who can least afford it. i would say that the definition of a good job today is not just a job, it is a full-time job and you're not likely to get one. martha: yeah. you know, i mean, it is such a rocky picture, but when they argue that the rising cost of health carries not rising as quickly as is used to be, are all these companies and states perhaps, they would say, you know, scrambling in a way they don't need to? >> they're getting out of these rising costs. costs are still rising. they're getting out of it because they know, employers know that 16 months from now
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they must provide health care to their employees. therefore, they're moving towards far more part-time work, that is less than 30 hours a week. if you got part-time employees, you don't have to provide health insurance for them. they go on to these exchanges. that takes the cost away from the employer and puts it on to either the government or the individual. they're scrambling to do that, en masse before that deadline arrives. martha: stuart, thank you. thanks very much. we'll see you later. >> yes, you will. gregg: these workers are calling themselves the 29ers, for 29 hours. you have to get under 30. so people are losing money over this and the roughead lines for obamacare, they keep on piling up. take a look at this. back in may the associated press, wrote, like your health care policy? you may be losing it. july third, another ap headline read, delay in the so-called employer mandate stirs broader worries about obama health law. and, just over a week later a "wall street journal" report
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highlighted how many restaurants are replacing full-timers over concerns of course about insurance. martha: another fox news alert this morning. president obama now addressing reports of a devastating chemical weapons attack inside syria. in a new interview that he did the president said the u.s. is still trying to confirm that toxic gases were used on innoncent civilians this week. >> there is no doubt that when you start seeing chemical weapons used on a large-scale and, again, we're still gathering information about this particular event but it is very troublesome, that starts getting to some core national interests that the united states has, both in terms of us making sure that weapons of mass destruction are not proliferating as well as needing to protect our allies, our bases, in the region. martha: so earlier this year the u.s. confirmed that chemical weapons have been used in syria,
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something that the president had said would be a red line for him but so far the u.s. response to all of this has been minimal. it is a very difficult situation playing out on the ground in syria. also the idea that the u.s. can solve syria's civil war the president says, is quote, overstated. more on that later. gregg: so where does the united states go from here? is action needed in syria? we're going to be talking about it with a former u.s. ambassador to the united nations john bolton coming up about 9:40. security forces in egypt bracing for new violence today as the muslim brotherhood calls for a so-called, friday of martyrs protest in support of ousted president mohammed morssy. leland vittert is live in jerusalem. leland, what is the word on what it is like in cairo now? >> reporter: gregg, a stretch to call it quiet but certainly calm.
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a couple hundred supporters in the streets now. they don't have the ability to mobilize the kind of numbers they have seen in the past. in cairo, tanks, personal carriers, soldiers and they have shut down the main square and they have orders to shoot to kill if brotherhood gunmen come out like we've seen in the past. remember the army instituted emergency law. they have rounded up hundreds of members of the brotherhood, primarily its top level leadership and also midlevel leadership, trying to turn down the flame on a pot that was boiling over. the brotherhood leadership what is left that can speak, still demanding mohammed morsi, democratically elected president be reinstated after being deposed with a coup a few weeks ago. there doesn't seem to be support on the street to go out protest. back to you. gregg: the military crackdown is having the desired effect at least for them. how does former president mubarak's release from jail yesterday factor in this?
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>> reporter: it was seen as a big gamble by the army. there were fears it would spark mass protest. images of mubarak getting on a helicopter heading to a military hospital where he is under house arrest. they thought that would bring thousands of people back out on the streets. hundred of thousands people were out on streets in 2011, demanding he be resigned a number of those people were killed. he was convicted. his appeal was overturned. we're awaiting retrial. if he is acquitted and set free we may see a different reaction on the street. back to you. gregg: leland vittert from jerusalem. leland, thanks. martha: we'll watch very closely on wall street this morning after that computer glitch yesterday that halted nasdaq trading for several hours. so regulators no doubt are going to be tapping their pencils trying to figure out what happened in that situation. make sure that it does not happen again. meanwhile the dow ended it longest losing streak of the year. the index got a lift from encouraging economic reports from china and europe.
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that made everybody breathe a little sigh of relief yesterday. the dow had fallen for six straight days. it went up more than 66 points yesterday. closing back above the 15,000 mark. we'll see what happens when it gets going 20 minutes for now. gregg: it could be the end of the road for bob filner. the san diego mayor reportedly expected to resign, part of a deal, in just one of multiple claims of sexual harrassment against him. the city council expected to vote on that deal behind closed doors later this afternoon. if the mayor does step down, the recall effort will then be called off. still, members of that recall campaign are asking people to keep collecting signatures. >> 39 days is already a tight timeline to have people sort of pack it in, would be disasterous for the recall. that's why we're telling people keep up momentum until we know his departure is imminent. gregg: so is it bye-bye for bob? we'll have more on this in a live report coming up later in the newscast. martha: we are just getting
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started this morning and it has been 50 years since the march on washington and martin luther king's famous i have a dream speech. but according to the new numbers out there, people still believe that the races are not treated equally in this country. we're going to have a very interesting, fair and balanced debate coming up on this. do not miss it moments away. gregg: plus, this american hero, he served in world war ii, murdered. who would do such a thing and why? we'll get an update on the search for the suspects. martha: awful story. and look at this, did it snow in august? what is all that white stuff out there? and where's that happening? no thank you. not quite labor day. we'll be right back. so then the little tiny chipmunks go all the way up... ♪ [ female announcer ] when your swapportunity comes, take it. ♪
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martha: well this month marks 50 years since the march on washington when the reverend martin luther king, jr. gave his
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historic, "i have a dream" speech on the steps of the lincoln memorial but today many americans feel much still needs to be done to realize his dream of racial equality. here's a pew survey that found just 45% believe that a lot proving guess has been made. 36% say some progress. 15% believe that little or no progress has been made toward racial equality in america. juan williams, fox news political analyst and braid black man, former deputy assistant to former president george w. bush. good morning, gentlemen. we have had a number about cases recently which provoked so much discussion about race in this country and this milestone does beg that question, how are we doing on this front? juan, let me start with you. >> well, if you look at it as a matter of history, 50 years, there is no comparison between america of 1963 and america of 2013. martha, i think of it in very personal terms. i think my dad couldn't be working at a major network.
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i don't think it is possible that, to be publishing books and writing columns in america the way that i am. i think he would be living in segregated neighborhood. i know he was. that's where i grew up. in terms of educational opportunities it would have been far less but i think what you see in the poll i think it is very interesting, 44% of whites said we are not equal, have so much more to go is i think overwhelmingly what you see from the poll people say we still have struggles because of differences in terms of educational opportunities and specific what i would point to although that is not in the poll, that you just don't see kids in big cities schools where most nine north live having same opportunity to succeed as kids out in the suburbs. martha: there have been inner-city school failures on a massive level across this country. >> yes, ma'am. martha: there are so many factors that go into that. you know, one of the things that strikes me, brad, over the last year or so we had a discussion
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about affirmative action in the supreme court, we had a discussion whether or not southern states should have to get federal approval on changing voting rights. so it feels like the dynamic is changing in terms of what the nation acceptses in terms of exceptions that need to be put in place as far as race is concerned. what do you think? >> i think the recent rulings that we've seen there is no further need for kind of restrictions and oversight on voting is a plus. there are some on the other side of the aisle who think is it's a detriment. the fact is i agree with juan, america today is much more diverse, much more accepting than it was 50 years ago. we have a president of the united states who is half black. we have an attorney general who is african-american. we have legislators, we have journalists, we have teachers and scholars who are every ethnicity. so america has come along way. are with we a perfect nation? no. there are pockets of despair especially in the urban areas.
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here is the missed opportunity. five years ago we elect ad partly african-american president, half black, half white. cohave been a perfect person to unite the country. i believe he had a missed opportunity he allowed himself to inject himself in racial issues which the president of the united states should not have gone there and risen above it to bring people together. the people hurting most in the economy are the people supported him the most. black community, 30% of unemployment, high incidents of welfare and food stampsth is the despair of our country our president has missed. >> let's pull up the other poll we have, because it goes to brad's point and i want to get juan's point. think is important conversation to have. one in four african-americans in this country believe they are worse off or, you know, worse or about the same. that is a huge numbers. how does the president, juan, squandered a unique opportunity that he had, to profess that
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there are no excuses for anybody in this country? to feel victimized. there is opportunity. that he was able to rise to the highest level in this office and to post-traumatic stress disorder the importance because of his own personal experience, of being a dad, of being a father, and that emerges time and time again as the missing component in so many of these young men primarily that we see on the wrong side of the law? >> well, you know, it is shocking when you look at the numbers in terms of incarceration in the country. it is about half of all the people in federal prisons are black and hispanic, martha. your point is one i take to heart. something like a personal campaign for me. i think the president, i think all of us need to speak out more clearly and say that, say something about the importance of, you know, marriage, about raising kids, loving kids. and what we see is a breakdown. you know it is about now, these statistics are becoming a refrain. 30% of white kids born out of
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wedlock. 50% of hispanics. 70% of black kids. that is a shame that would make dr. king cry. martha: i want to get more from you. forgive me for jumping in. my question, the opportunity isn't there? i think it is looks like the opportunity is there but what these kids need is somebody to push them through the door to school. to make sure that they are staying on the straight-and-narrow. and i think, that just once again, the president had an incredible opportunity that may have been squandered to say no, no, you are not a victim. you need to stand up and take responsibility. do you think that he has squandered that opportunity, juan and then let's go back to brad? >> yeah, i think he could be a stronger advocate if you will. just as personal example as you said, a guy who has education and who has pursued opportunity and achieved the top job in the united states the presidency, that is tremendous i think he needs to speak out more aggressively. the problem is when he does, the boy the civil rights leaders are all over him and say he should
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go back to talking about racism and systemically issues rather than personal responsibility and things we can do for our families and communities. martha: a lot of people feel that does not move us forward what some of those leaders have done. brad? >> juan is absolutely right. if the president took a broader and took the higher road, than those people who are seeking to divide us, the president would have tremendous success because his success story himself is a lesson for every kid but especially kids in the minority areas. the president should have, look i like when he talks about the middle class. i'm middle class. he should be talking more about to his base, to the young people, to give them hope and opportunity. that's why they supported him. the fact when you're hurting more than the rest of the country from the guy that you put all your hopes and dreams into, that even puts you further into despair. dependency and a lack of respect within the community for themselves as individuals is juan points out is really the attention that has to be given and president could do a much
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better job. martha: gentlemen, thank you. thank you very much. >> thanks, martha. >> good to talk to you both. have a good weekend. >> you too. gregg: president obama is pushing the feds to lower the cost of college education but is more government the real reason that college is so expensive in the first place? we'll take a look at that. martha: this horrible story. this is a world war ii veteran who survived being shot in okinawa only to be beaten to death allegedly by teenagers. the all-out manhunt for this gentleman's killers is next. >> delbert really did, seems trivial but he really did save my life. he made it possible for me to go get a job, find work. he wasn't just my great-uncle. he was a great person. and he didn't deserve to die like that. nning in the morning? yeah. getting your vegetables every day? when i can. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8.
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martha: the justice department announcing plans to sue the state of texas over the voter i.d. law an look for ways to intervene in a lawsuit over the state's redistricting policies. attorney general eric holder marks the department's, quote, continuing effort to protect the voting rights of all eligible americans. meanwhile texas governor rick perry says he will continue to defend, quote, the integrity of our elections. we have knot heard the last of that debate. gregg: well, this is a horrific crime out of washington state. spokane police searching for two teenagers suspected of beating this world war ii veteran to death in a parking lot. the victim, 88-year-old delbert belton. his nickname was shorty. everybody knew him that way. he apparently was sitting in his car outside a lodge for the fraternal order of eagles, when he was suddenly viciously
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attacked, left for dead. dan springwer the latest developments from our washington bureau. dan, this is so sad and senseless. what do we know about it? >> reporter: yeah, it really is, gregg. that is exactly what police are saying it is just a senseless crime but word we're getting from police in spokane it appears to be a random robbery. the victim as you mentioned was 88-year-old delbert belton, a world war ii veteran that survived the battle of okinawa, was shot in the leg and worked in spokane at aluminum factory for 30 years. his friends call him shortly and can't make expense out of that. he was apparently waiting for a friend outside spokane around 8:00, when he was attacked by two young minute. police were called to the scene. they found belton in his car with a serious head injury. he was taken to a local hospital where he died thursday morning. >> it does appear random. he was in the parking lot. much appears he was assaulted in the parking lot. there was no indication of any
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sort of, that he would have known these people prior to the assault. >> reporter: he was apparently outside that eagles lodge waiting to go in and do what he loved to do the most which was play a little pool, gregg. gregg: boy. do they have any leads on this thing, maybe some surveillance cameras that can help them? >> reporter: right now police say they have not identified a suspect by name but they released very good surveillance video of the attackers. take a look. they are black males who appear to be in their late teens. police hope to generate tips. still at this time they have made no arrests. friends of shorty say he had no enemies, a great guy. he was apparently waiting for a female friend outside the eagles lodge to walk her in. he didn't want her to walk her in alone. this is a rough section of spokane. shorty was living alone. his wife died several years ago. spokane police hope the surveillance photos will jog someone's memory and think get the tips that lead to the arrest and conviction of those two
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teenagers. gregg? gregg: let's hope for that. dan springer. thanks very much. martha. martha: a disturbing new report exactly who is working at the department of homeland security. wait until you hear what one manager is accused of doing in his spare time. gregg: hmmm. take a look at this. that massive underwater sinkhole swallowing a cluster of trees in just a matter of seconds. it is truly amazing. the man who shot that incredible video will join us live and he will tell us why this happened.
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martha: well a department of homeland security manager in charge of buying ammunition for the government is now accused of running a website that promotes a race war against white people. this is a bizarre story. molly henneberg joins us live from washington. molly, who is this guy? what kind of things does he write about on this website? >> reporter: ayo kimathi is his name. he buys weapons for the immigration and customs enforcement division, a digs of the homeland security. his website was brought to national attention by the southern poverty law center. that is civil rights organization known forgoing after white supremacist group. in this case he is running a black supremacist website. he says whites are a bitter
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enemy. the website he said was create preparing black people world for for ininevitable war with the white race. we'll see you on the battlefield. in a rap he slams high-profile african-american women in the entertainment industry including oprah winfrey, wendy williams and tyra banks. he calls them, uncle toms, meaning sellouts to whites. and the website also has a picture of president obama on it, calling him the quote, magic milato. he ain't your friend. martha? martha: wow. any response from the department of homeland security on this, molly? >> reporter: a spokeswoman for the immigration and customs agency says that agency does not condone any type of hateful rhetoric or advocacy of violence of any kind and that spokeswoman goes on to say, quote, every i.c.e. employee is held to the highest standard of professional and ethical conduct. accusations of misconduct are
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investigated thoroughly. if substantiated appropriate actions is taken. it is unclear at this point when kimathi will face disciplinary action but according to the southern poverty law center, kimathi got permission from his supervisors to start the website but he told them it would be used to sell concert and lex ture videos. martha? martha: well, i certainly hope there's an investigation underway into this whole thing. molly, really good to see you. thank you very much. >> reporter: thanks. gregg: president obama unveiling his plan to lower the cost of college education. the president announcing that he will cap student loan repayments at 10% of future paychecks. i proses scrapping current school ratings systems in favor of one that ties school funding to performance. take a listen to performance the president. >> all the ranking systems rank you higher if you charge more and you let in fewer students.
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but you should have a better sense of who is actually graduating students and giving you a good deal. so -- [applause] down the road, we're going to use these ratings, we hope, by working with congress, to change how we allocate federal aid for colleges. gregg: neil mccluskey, associate director for the center of educational freedom at the cato institute. neil, good to see you. do any of the president's proposals address the main problems that driver of high tuition costs which arguably, and there is evidence of this, is the federal government itself? they keep throwing so much money toward financial aid. >> financial aid is clearly the problem. basically what the federal government has done has said, colleges, whatever you want to chargings we will make sure that students can get access to the money to pay that, and that is
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why you've seen inflation in higher education just eclipse anything, even health carries minor the amount of inflation compared to higher ed. clearly it is economics 101. that if you give people the money to pay almost any price, the people who are charging it will charge more. gregg: what's astonishing, tuition actually has very little to do with real actual costs and the reason i know this is, i read your study at the cato institute. i want to put it up on the screen here. here is college tuition, undergraduate, residential, includes room and board. the average cost to educate is roughly $8,000 per year but you found that the average college bill is roughly $37,000 for private schools, 16,000 for public. neil, colleges can raise tuition with impunity, because they know they're going to get paid no matter what, right? >> yeah, ultimately that's what happens. we have sign the last two or
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three years a little bit of people easing back a bit as we heard more about student loans, how big they have gotten and economy was pretty bad, but you still have the same major effect which is the federal government, first of all you heard the president say this yesterday, everybody should grow to college. of the college is the ticket to the middle class. then they say we'll give you whatever amount of money you need to go, a lot of people hear that say i have to go to college and i have to pay whatever is being charged. gregg: william bennett, former education secretary, made the argument, look, not everybody should go to college. for a lot of people is not worth it because it is so expensive. can one hypothesize the president is not really addressing the main driver of expenses as you have identified it because, well, he either doesn't understand it, he is not terribly informed on the subject, or it is kind of anathema to his philosophy of big government and entitlement society? >> well i think a lot of people struggle with this i think democrats and maybe a little
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more than republicans but most people, they, you know, they have a lot of things they're doing in their lives they think about, look, education is good generally and that's right. also if i spend more on something i'm getting something better, generally at least in a free market that is right. they think if we spend more on higher education that must be good and the reason it costs so much because it is so important. they don't think through, again, people don't have time to do this, what is really happening not that you're getting better or more education, you're getting education with a whole bunch of more junk around it. recreation facilities, not going to class. gpa inflation an things like that. gregg: we actually did a documentary on this. we when to one university. they have created this sort of taj mahal, that is what they call it. and it is ridiculous. it is absurd and it is for the benefit of students but just purely recreation. over on the screen here, maybe we get a camera shot. here are the top 10 list of the most expensive schools in the
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nation. sara lawrence college, 61,000 plus. and, nyu is number two. my alma matter, claremont mckenna college is number six. these are $60,000 per year colleges and universities. isn't the other problem, students are defaulting on their loans and seeking early forgiveness, and that just means a higher cost for taxpayers? >> yeah, that's a big problem. even if people aren't claiming it, it is another thing they're hearing. i can have a lot of this forgiven so i will take on even bigger debt. we need to look to be careful on list of college tuitions, understanding that public colleges they nail the taxpayer before they set their prices. they take the money right away. gregg: right. >> private colleges are different. they have to charge you at least the sticker price, more of the cost of what you're paying. and many of those schools will give you lots of their own financial aid.
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that is one of the big problems with colleges, there are some ways they're subsidized it is hard to tell what actual people are actually paying. gregg: it is creating massive debt and ruining peoples's lives. we met a woman, graduating from university of chicago, quarter of a million dollars in debt. she's a social worker. will never pay it off. shouldn't have gone to the university of chicago and assumed all the debt. it is a tragic story and some of them are out there. it was a great study you did at the cato institute, thank you for sharing it with us. neal mccluskey, thanks. >> thank you. gregg: look the at daily politics page and daily political newsletter. foxnews.com/foxnewsfirst. enter the e-mail address, you will get the top political headlines every day. it is a must-read. >> it sure is. coming up here, president obama reacting to the unspeakable violence that we are witnessing now in syria.
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will the u.s. use force in any way in this situation and should we? ambassador john bolton joins us with some very interesting thoughts on all of that. gregg: incredible videotape of some extreme weather. no that's not snow. we'll tell you who is digging out from all this, hail. love, warmth. here, try this. mm, ok! ching! i like the fact that there's lots of different tastes going on. mmmm! breakfast i'm very impressed. this is a great cereal! honey bunches of oats. i hear you crunching. we're new to town.ells. welcome to monroe. so you can move more effortlessly... we want to open a new account: checking and savings. well we can help with that. we tend to do a lot of banking online.
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gregg: powerful storms striking the state of colorado. look at this. heavy amounts of hail. that's right, hail. in august. does happen now and again. look at this video from the central part of the state. there was so much hail this car got trapped at a busy intersection. at least one road had to be closed. check out this aerial footage. this is a football field and golf course all covered in hail. the storms bringing heavy rain, triggering flash flood warnings in the southern part of colorado. martha: all right. go back to one ever our top stories today.
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forhe first time since reports surfaced this week of a possible chemical weapons attack in syria president obama has now publicly addressing this very serious issue. he said wednesday's attack is a of grave concern to him. we have learned that attack is said to have killed at least 100 people, possibly more. the president did refer to it in more serious terms than we have heard in the past. listen to what he said. >> there is no doubt that when you start seeing chemical weapons used on a large-scale and again, we're still gathering information about this particular event but it is very troublesome. martha: very troublesome says the president there. john bolton joins me now, former u.s. ambassador to the united nations and a fox news contributor and senior fellow at the american enter -- at the american enterprise institute. ambassador, good to have you. >> glad to be with you. martha: are we hearing anything different from the president in these recent comments, do you think? >> i don't think so.
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this time almost exactly at the one-year anniversary seeing chemical weapons moved around would be used would be a red line he is not saying that. the white house in typical fashion is leaking that the pentagon has been instructed to look at target options, implying there is growing closeness to the possibility of using force and i suppose that's possible although it would be nice to know what the objective of the use of that force would be. that hasn't been spelled out. i suppose we'll have to wait and see what the president thinks the purpose of it is. martha: talk to me a little bit about something that bubbled up yesterday. that was the issue that samantha power, the new u.n. ambassador who has the job that you once held, did not make it to that emergency session meeting with regard to syria and, it was pointed out she had been on the job 19 days since she was appointed and she traveled from new york to los angeles to deliver a speech. there was all the discussion why she hasn't been, was not at the
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meeting. a lot of hubbub whether or not she was on vacation. what do you make of all that? >> well, apparently last night the state department did announce she was on vacation. it would have been a lot easier if they said that to begin with, instead of saying as the state department spokeswoman did, ask the united nations. they had some confusion over there apparently, news flash to state department spokeswoman, jen, samantha power doesn't work for the united nations, but the same state department she does. i hate to play unup manship here. i took my job august the 1st about the same time as ambassador power and i didn't take a vacation because the president is coming to the general assembly in mid-september september. there is a lot of work to do meeting 190 other ambassadors. it never occurred to me taking a vacation. maybe she could not have gotten back to the meeting by wednesday. apparently didn't come back yesterday.
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i don't know whether she is there today or not. i suppose it depends what your priority is. martha: one of the things at that came out in back and forth, for several security council members their deputy was also the one present. august is a big-time for vacation. apparently others did not come back as well. does this in any way speak to their confidence in the effectiveness of what they would be able to do even if they did come back to this meeting? >> what other countries do to me is utterly irrelevant what the united states does. if the united states thinks use of chemical weapons in syria is a priority it ought to be all hands on deck but i think this also teaches us a valuable lesson about the united nations. the failure of the security council on wednesday or yesterday to do anything significant, is not a problem with the united nations. it is not something that can be fixed. it is not the united nations living up to its standards. this is the standard of the united nations. this is the way the u.n. works. it doesn't get any better than
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this. when the administration focuses as it does so much of its syria policy on the u.n., it is no wonder we're in a mess. martha: yeah. you know, i mean it is, it is striking, as you point out, having been on the job for just such a short time and being confronted with such a sire r serious situation and the videos that we've seen on what is going on the ground, in syria with these chemical weapons attack and trying to figure out whether or not indeed it was regime or whether it could have possibly been the rebels, it seems to merit the highest level of united states attention. am blast door bolton, thank you very much -- ambassador bolton, thank you very much. we'll see you soon. >> thank you, martha. gregg: it has been almost a year since the attacks on the american consulate in benghazi and just two weeks since the first charges were announced against the suspects in those attacks. but now the united states is pulling its team out of libya. so is this investigation over before it really began? martha: plus gone in 14 seconds.
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look at this video. sinking straight down to the very tip of the very top leaf. that is a very deep hole. the man that shot the video will talk to us in a moment. we'll tell you exactly what happened there. we'll be right back. too big. too small. too soft. too tasty. [ both laugh ] [ male announcer ] introducing progresso's new creamy alfredo soup. inspired by perfection. at humana, our medicare agents sit down with you and ask. hanging out with this guy. he's just the love of my life.
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martha: these kind of stories are so fascinating. it is nothing short of a miracle. this ohio man woke up 45 minutes after his heart stopped and he was declared dead. 45 minutes. after he was declared dead. the doctors say that 37-year-old tony yali, showed no signs of life. then suddenly the heart monitor started to beep again and the doctors went right back in and resuscitated him. >> nothing, everybody started to tell me how it happened.
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when i started to understand a miracle happened. >> i pointed at him, i said, dad, you're not going to die today. i stood there for about, a few more seconds and, i was about to walk back to, you know, comfort the family. martha: unbelievable. he is the man in the middle by the way surrounded by his friends. the cardiologist who treated yahle said he has never seen anything like this before. amazing story. gregg: dramatic videotape after massive underwater sinkhole in the louisiana just swallowing up the trees and the land in a matter of seconds. look. >> oh, that is a big hole. just gone. authorities say it is 25-acres
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across. likely hundreds of feet deep in some spots. and it is just been getting bigger and bigger. joining us now is the man who shot the incredible video. john beaudreau, assumption parish-offs of homeland security and director of emergency preparedness there. first of all this is apparently being blamed on salt mining. explain what caused it. >> it is a right adjacent to a salt dome where there's solution mining activities goes on the salt dome and this is caused due to a failed cavern to the salt outer wall. which is disturbed the, it is as much as 5,000 feet deep and has created the sinkhole. gregg: yeah. how did you know you weren't going to get swallowed up in this thing? it is so huge? >> well, this is, happened
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before. i observed this before and, was familiar with what was going to happen. so, this is just a, the first time we actually captured it on video but i have seen this before. so, i was quite confident on where i was and what was going to happen. gregg: look, a couple of homeowners have filed a class-action lawsuit against the mining company. are homes threatened? >> from the sinkhole, the best scientists believe not. however those homes that we're speaking of is, biggest risk is the natural gas that has collected in the water aquifer below them, because of this failed cavern. it also disturbed hydrocarbon areas below surface thousands of feet deep. gregg: yeah. >> and that gas has migrated into the water aquifer below
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them. that poses more of a risk to them. gregg: i'm told 350 people have been told to evacuate. we're out of time but john, thanks for being with us. appreciate it. >> thank you. martha: back in washington senator coburn now suggesting that president obama is quote, perilously quote to impeachment territory. we'll be right back. thousands of presentations. and one hard earned partnership. it took a lot of work to get this far. so now i'm supposed to take a back seat when it comes to my investments? there's zero chance of that happening. avo: when you work with a schwab financial consultant, you'll get the guidance you need with the control you want. talk to us today. even in stupid loud places. to prove it, we set up our call center right here... [ chirp ] all good? [ chirp ] getty up.
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martha: fox news alert, two weeks after the justice department filed charges in the benghazi terror attacks, the suspects are still at large. we're learning that much of the u.s. response team has now left the country, so what signal does all of this send? welcome, everybody, to a brand new hour of "america's newsroom," i'm martha maccallum. twreg greg i'm greg jace in for bill. new questions over the investigation into this attack that, of course, left four people dead including ambassador chris stevens as the state department brings home a large majority of the special operations team charged with hunting down the suspects before
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they've even been captured. martha: adam houseley following this story for us. so, adam, it's a question a lot of people are requesting: where exactly are we this investigation? >> reporter: right now we've talked to a number of potential operators, and they tell us this group is funded under the 1208 section of the u.s. budget. taxpayer dollars. these men are supposed to go in and train locals to fight terrorism. while they were doing that potentially, as part of a cover, they were also the people tracking down, providing information, video surveillance, pictures, all sorts of surveillance on the people they believe are responsible for the attacks in benghazi. now, in fact, one of these individuals insists that a lot of this information has been given to the department of defense as well as the state department and given as high as the white house, in fact, one report by one individual says he
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saw a report that had been given to the president back on august 7th about what could be done to go after some of these individuals. we've also been told that by multiple sources that the one special forces leader who came in to take over a few months ago actually had a yelling match with the acting u.s. ambassador at the time, william row buck, saying are you going to let these men get away with murder, and that response was met with, quote, crickets. martha: so if we have people on the ground there, what's preventing us from making a move? >> reporter: well, right now it's the insecurity. a lot of these guys are saying, you know what? we waited too long. now you have a situation with massive prison breaks, one very large one and several other, kidnappings, killings, it's made the situation very difficult many benghazi, especially out in the east where the muslim brotherhood is basically starting a de facto war against the very insecure government of libya right now. we've also been told a couple of things having to be involved
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with a second u.s. ambassador. so another ambassador came in, and we are told that he was given information by general carter hamm who used to run africom who said we can get these guys now, why don't we go do it, and that, too, didn't happen. martha: boy. it just raises so many questions still. adam houseley, thank you very much. gregg: troubling new information from the outgoing director of the fbi. robert mueller sitting down for a rare interview before leaving his post and telling our own catherine herridge that the threat from al-qaeda is still very real. chief intelligence correspondent be catherine herridge joins us now with more. catherine, what did we learn about this? >> guest: well, good morning. the fbi director confirmed that this threat that closed down the embassies earlier this month was specific and credible, and he told us that the threat has not passed. >> we are closely monitoring the situation. i would say that it may well have been postponed, but we're
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monitoring it to make certain that we don't miss anything. well, it's hard to say, but i think one of the contributing factors, i believe, is the fact that we ramped up and that precautions were taken and be that the opportunity they thought they may have had at that juncture was no longer there. >> reporter: as for a reported conference call among al-qaeda leaders, you see the leader of al-qaeda in pakistan zawahiri on the left and the leader of al-qaeda in yemen on the right that led to the shuttering of nearly two dozen embassies. director mueller describing it as a dialogue adding: it did not seem to reach the level of coordination. but this mere connectivity between these groups stretching from pakistan to yemen, africa and north africa is significant and troubling, gregg. gregg: you talked to the director about syria. what did he have to say? >> reporter: well, we asked what posed the greatest national security threat, home grown
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terrorism or al-qaeda in africa, and he said the most immediate threat is, in fact, home grown terrorism, and he emphasized this growing number of american citizens or american residents who are going to syria and becoming further radicalized. >> one of the concerns i think we all have at this juncture are persons traveling to syria gaining expertise and -- >> reporter: bringing it back -- >> bringing it back to this country or back to europe. >> reporter: so the idea here is you've got american citizens who can pass from this country to syria with relative ease because of their passports, getting training and coming back here and using that training to launch a cause in this country. gregg: lots of money -- lots of information. [laughter] >> reporter: i don't know about that part. gregg: lots of information. information is money, isn't it? [laughter] >> reporter: a new one on me. martha: catherine, thank you. all right, let's go to this one, we are awaiting a verdict in the court-martial of major nidal hasan in the fort hood massacre, the army psychiatrist who is
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accused of mowing down and killing 13 people, many of whom were coworkers, and injuring some 30 more at that shooting rampage at the army base back in 2009. so the jury got this case yesterday afternoon after hasan, who had represented himself in court, chose really after not bringing any case on his own behalf that he would also not make a closing statement. on wednesday he rested his case, didn't call any witnesses. we're going to bring you that verdict as soon as they bring it in. we'll get you there, stay tuned. gregg: a u.s. soldier responsible for one of the worst atrocities of the afghan war apologizing in a court of law. staff sergeant robert bales leading guilty to killing 16 -- pleading guilty to killing 16 afghan men, women and children in a slaughter outside a remote outpost in the kandahar province. bales describing his actions as an act of, quote: cowardice can. he now faces life in prison.
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defense attorneys are seeking to make him eligible, though, for parole after 20 years. martha: and back to san diego we go for the update on this where the mayor, bob filner's, days in office may be numbered after reports of a deal to force the embattled democrat to step down. eighteen women have come forward, 18, and accused him of sexual harassment. now even his former fiancee says that filner needs to step down immediately. >> i'm hopeful that the settlement agreement between bob and the city of san diego will include resignation and begin to bring closure to this painful chapter for all of those involved. i'm hopeful that tomorrow will begin a healing process and that attention will return to the needs and concerns of the people of san diego. martha: william la jeunesse live
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in san diego, california, so what's the latest from city hall there this morning, william? >> reporter: right now the best bargaining chip that mayor filner has is his office. everyone wants him out. the deal has already been cut, we should find out the details later today, probably 4-6 eastern time. but for now it appears the long political career of this liberal democrat is over. early this week video showed him boxing up his belongings, saying good-bye to staff. the settlement saves expensive recall and a drawn-out legal fight. question is, what did the city agree to to cover all or some of his legal bills and any judgment? in short, will taxpayers have to pay for his sexual misconduct? the answers are contained in the settlement that for now remains confidential. >> any rumors you hear about the proposal you may deem to be untrue because the people standing here are the ones who know of it, and we have all
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committed to judge irving that we will maintain the confidentiality of the mediation. >> reporter: now, this did not have to cost taxpayers money, filner could have stepped down like an adult, but he's 70 years old, and, martha, he probably couldn't cover his legal bills. martha: isn't the city essentially letting him off the hook if this deal happens? >> reporter: yes. and it's a very tough political pill to swallow, but the city is trying to protect taxpayers and here's why. eighteen women, as you said, have come forward describing in detail how he groped, grabbed, licked, touched inappropriately, treated these people like a personal play toy. when gloria allred, the attorney, sued the mayor, the city turned around and sued the mayor as well. so if he resigns and the city drops its lawsuit against him, now the monster and disgraced ma mayor is gone. allred would 078 be suing taxpayers.
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any jury would probably give a reasonable settlement. maybe the value of the lawsuit is dropped from maybe a million to less than 500,000 in actual damages. so yesterday allred blasted this agreement. >> it is not appropriate for the city of san diego to provide a gift of public funds to the sexual harasser, that is the mayor, to help him to fight the victim in the sexual harassment lawsuit which we filed. >> reporter: so later today we, 1:00 local, there'll with a closed door -- there'll be a closed door session. if they accept the agreement, the mayor signs off, basically, we'll have a special election in about 90 days if it all holds together. martha: unbelievable. you think about what would happen in a corporate environment in this situation,
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and all bets would be off. the person would be out on the street in all likelihood. william, thank you very much. we'll watch this afternoon. gregg: all right. there is a new debate over the possibility president obama could be impeached? there's a leading lawmaker that suggests he is dangerously close to meeting those constitutional standards. our own chris wallace will be here to talk about that. plus this: >> you could have personally hand picked qualities for the perfect person, i think he would be, you know, the outcome that you would find. martha: that's chris lane's girlfriend, an american girl, and the murder of that young man has sparked now international outrage as prosecutors have labeled this a thrill killing. but now we've got a new report that suggests that his death may not have been quite so random after all. gregg: and a school staffer being hailed as a hero for talking down a gunman and preventing what could have been another school massacre.
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who talked to her, reached out to her, picked up the telephone? we'll tell you, coming up. >> it's going to be all right, sweetie. i just want you to know that i love you, though, okay? and i'm proud of you. that's a good thing that you've just given up, and don't worry about it. we all go through something in life. too small. too soft. too tasty. [ both laugh ] [ male announcer ] introducing progresso's new creamy alfredo soup. inspired by perfection. new i don't know. soup. how did you get here? [ speaking in russian ]
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>> hello? gregg: she did, didn't she? those words from a cool-headed hero moments after talking down a heavily-armed gunman in her school. ann twi net tuff is her name, certainly living up to her last name, and president obama gave her a telephone call to thank her for her courage. tuff was working in an atlanta
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school as a bookkeeper. she calmed a gunman down by sharing personal stories while on the telephone with 911 the entire be time. martha: back to washington now where there is a warning for the white house as a prominent republican senator becomes the latest to suggest that president obama could be impeached. oklahoma senator tom coburn raised this possibility at a town hall this week acknowledging that the president has not committed an impeachable offense but saying he believes he is not far off from that. here's what he said. >> you have to establish the criteria that would qualify for proceedings against the president. and that's called impeachment. [applause] but you, but that, you know, that's not something you take lightly, and you have to use a historical precedent of what that means. you know, i think there's some
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intended violation of law in this administration, but i also, but i also think there's a ton of incompetence. of people who are making decisions -- martha: calls the administration lawless and incompetent, heavy charges even if you consider the fact that he says they're off the mark or not deserving of impeachment at least at in this stage. chris wallace joins me now, good morning. good to have you with us today. >> thank you, martha. good to be with you. martha: you know, obviously, when we see these town hall environments, sometimes, you know, things sort of get going, and there's a effort to sort of rally the base back at home. is that what this is, or is it something more? >> well, tom coburn's a serious man, and he's not running for election again. he's term limited himself, so i don't know that he's playing to the crowd. he's obviously concerned about some of the things this administration has done, the selective decision on whether to enforce deportation of people without getting any approval
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from congress, young people, you know, the so-called dreamers, some of the actions with the irs which have not been with linked to the white house but, obviously, there are suspicions about that. you know, it's interesting, the constitution which is so precise on so many issues is actually quite imprecise on the issue of impeachment. it says high crimes and misdemeanors without really setting forth what those. and i think intentionally, because they wanted it to be more of a, in a sense, a political judgment. what in each time going forward over the centuries is going to be seen as a violation so great that the country is going to feel that they need to take the extraordinary step of taking the chief executive or somebody from any position and driving them out of office. i don't think we're probably in a political sense anywhere near there, and you have to remember that the decision by republicans in the house back with bill clinton and monica lewinsky to
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impeach him ended up falling, rebounding very much against them, creating quite a backlash that ended up driving newt gingrich from office. so there are certainly a lot of things to be concerned about, the unilateral decision to delay parts of obamacare, as i say, the selective deportation of people who came into this country illegally. but i've got to think that it would be a step that would be met with great resistance by the voters of this country were the republicans in congress -- and i don't know that tom coburn was actually suggesting it -- were they actually to move to articles of impeachment. martha: yeah. i mean, there have been a couple of other congressmen and a congresswoman who have sort of thrown these words around, chris, but when you think about the concerns in the republican party about what faces them and the sort of two factions that have emerged of whether or not, you know, they need to be more moderate or whether or not they need to stick to those sort of, you know, tea party inspiration
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that has led one wing of the party so dramatically, forcing impeachment or even going down that road would certainly give a lot of fodder to people who think they are, you know, the party of no. >> well, that's right. and you can see john boehner had a conference call with the house republicans just in the last day or so in which he basically said we are not going to shut down the government in order to defund obamacare. he said, in fact, we're going to pass a continuing resolution at the sequester level with all the spending cuts. but he's trying to nip that in the bud. i mean, that's the concern. you've got some people in the republican party who say, look, if we're going to say these things, we oppose obamacare, we have the power of the purse, let's cut off all the funding for it, and if we have to shut down the government in the course of doing that, then so be it. but you've got a lot of others who say this is a way to grab defeat out of the jaws of victory. obamacare is kind of coming apart on its own, they say, and let's let people make a political judgment, and then
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they can vote democrats out of office come 2014, that's the safer and for sensible way to do it. it's an interesting debate, but it does seem that the republican party is spending a lot of time arguing with itself rather than making the case, for instance, against obamacare. martha: and it sounds like things are going to heat up quite a bit when everybody gets back in september and october. you've got the men be ghazi issue and irs and, of course, what's going on in syria as well. so we look forward to the weekend. i know syria's going to be a hot topic for you over the course of the weekend and the show, chris. what can we look forward to there? >> well, we're going to be talking about syria and egypt, we've got two top congressional leaders to talk about it, bob corker, republican from tennessee, top republican on senate foreign relations as well as there you can see them, eliot engel, hop -- top democrat on foreign affairs. and the shocking murder in oklahoma, we'll talk to the governor of oklahoma, mary fallon.
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martha: chris, thank you. we will look forward to fox news sunday as all the always. gregg: breaking news out of spokane, washington, an arrest has been made in the beating death of that world world war ii veteran. springer in just a moment, he'll tell us about it. when i can. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. two full servings of vegetables for only 50 delicious calories. two full servings of vegetables for a strong bag that grips the can... ♪ get glad forceflex. small change, big difference. ...and a great deal. . thanks to dad. nope eeeeh... oh, guys let's leave the deals to hotels.com. nice bear.
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gregg: breaking news out of spokane, washington, an arrest has been made in the vicious beating death of a world war ii veteran. we told you about this earlier. delbert bellton, known to all of his friends as shorty. dan springer is following the latest developments from our washington bureau in washington state. dan, what have you learned? >> reporter: well, greging, yeah, this is a major development. this has been a top priority for the spokane police since this happened about 8:15 on wednesday. delbert bellton was waiting for a friend to come to an eagles
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lodge, he was going to go in and play some pool. he was beaten by two young black males. now, police had some video surveillance photos of those males but did not put be it out until late thursday. dell berth died thursday morning. they sat on that tape, they did some, you know, examining of the scene, they took some fingerprints. a witness did get a good look at the suspects and saw the direction in which they left, and they did tracking dogs and lost the scent. so they sat on that surveillance videotape, putting it out late last night, and we just got word that they've made an arrest this morning of one of the two suspects. the surveillance photos are pretty decent, so somebody must have called them with a tip leading them to one of the two suspects. they're two black males in their late teens. we don't have any more details than that, but again, they're going to have a news conference later this morning to talk about the person they arrested and also where their investigation stands. but a top priority for this law
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enforcement d. because delbert was a world war ii veteran just sitting in his car waiting for a friend and was beaten to death in an apparent random robbery. gregg: dan springer in our washington bureau, thanks very much. >> reporter: sure. ♪ ♪ gregg: new fallout from one of the large employers in the united states dropping health insurance coverage for thousands of workers' spouses. ups is making this change in large part over new costs associated with obamacare. raising concerns that other big companies will follow suit. melissa francis is host of "money with melissa francis" on the fox business network. so, melissa, how many people are we talking about that are going to lose their coverage here? >> oh, i mean, it is a lot of people that we're talking about here. ups said that they have to do this to save money, that they're going to see their costs go up by 11% next year on these employees. they're going to save $60
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million, and the reason they gave was pretty simple. i mean, they put out a statement and said because of the affordable care act, now employers are required to provide insurance, so your spouse should go ahead and get their insurance from their employer instead of from ups. gregg: yeah. and we're talking about roughly 12,000 people, i think, for ups. so the question is, you know, are we now going to see other companies say, wait a minute, ups is a huge corporation in america. if they're doing it, you know, probably makes economic sense, we should do it. >> without question. i mean, this gives cover to many, many other companies to do the same thing. and to be honest, i mean, they're saying they're seeing their costs go up by 11%, that is a lot less than most of the other companies that i have spoken to. you know, companies have to say when they provide their guidance for the next year what they see their costs going to, and many of them have been told that their insurance premiums are going to go up by as much as 75% in some cases because of the affordable care act, because there's so many other people
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joining the rolls of insurance. and they have no choice. they can raise their prices. they can't do that in economy, they can lay people off, they can do that or this. gregg: well, the president did promise if you like your health care coverage, if you like your doctor, you get to keep all of that. >> nope. gregg: well, if you work at ups -- >> not the case. gregg: not the case. tune in to "money with melissa francis" every day at 5 p.m. eastern time on the fox business network. martha: well, there are some new developments in the so-called thrill kill murder of this young athlete in oklahoma. was his death more than just a random act? >> there's a lady here, and she -- [inaudible] >> okay. has he stopped breathing? >> has he stopped breathing? >> yes. yes, they say he has. what makes your family smile? backflips and cartwheels. love, warmth. here, try this. backflips and camm, ok!s.
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martha: fox news alert, and president obama now weighing in on the reports of a chemical weapons attack in syria, an event that he is now calling a, quote: big event of grave concern. to the united states. chief white house correspondent henry live at the university where the president has been traveling this new york. so the big question of the red line, if it was crossed earlier, it appears to have been crossed again, ed. >> reporter: that's right, martha. and what's interesting is the
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president's credibility is at stake here. it was one year ago this week that he talked about not just a red line, that if it were crossed this terms of use of chemical weapons by president assad in syria, but secondly he said if that happened, this'd be enormous consequences. as you note, the red line's already been crossed. the u.s. said that with smaller incidents. what seems significant about this cnn interview is that the president seems to be drawing a new line here and saying those were smaller incidents, this is a much bigger scale, the alleged incident of just a i few days ago that could have killed up to 1800 people. the president going on to say that this could get to the core interests of the united states. that suggests that he's hinting at possible u.s. military action. but on the other hand, he also seems very reluctant to take unilateral action, basically comparing the situation in syria to iraq and saying there can't be a rush to war. take a listen. >> you know, sometimes what we've seen is that folks will
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call for immediate action, jumping into stuff, that does not turn out well. gets us mired in very difficult situations, can result in us being drawn in to very expensive, difficult, costly interventions that actually breed more resentment in the region. >> reporter: now, you've heard republicans like senator john mccain blasting away at statements like that this week, suggesting there's no longer a red line but instead, a green light for president assad to thumb his nose at the u.s., the u.n., others around the world. last point i'd make is the president also made a little bit of news on egypt by saying that while he wants to make sure this new military government is not going against the ideals of the united states by killing its own people, he went on to say he's not sure cutting off u.s. aid will change any behavior. martha: got a lot on his plate. very complicated issues in syria and in egypt that the president
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has spoken out about now. we'll see you later. back to this story that has captured the attention of so many people really internationally. there's new information on this so-called thrill kill murder of a college athlete in oklahoma that suggests that the young men who told police that they killed chris lane basically for the fun of it, basically out of boredom, was what one of them said, may have had more of a plan going on here. james johnson says that his son was targeted by those same teenagers, and he says that this entire thing may be nothing more than some kind of twisted gang initiation. johnson told that to the "sydney morning herald". he said the way i understand it -- this man's from oklahoma -- there's a list that pops up with my son's name at the top of the list and four others that they say they're going to bump off. i don't think it was an initiation, i know it was an initiation. my son told me it was an
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initiation. they live in the area where all of in this happened, and he claims that his son has had dealings with these young men. and we use the term loosely. joined now by david webb, host of the david webb show and co-founder of tea party 365 and tamara holder, also a fox news contributor. welcome to you both. you know, i don't know what's worse, you know? kids killing out of boredom as these suspects appear to have done, or the rising fear of gang operations that may have been involved here, david. >> it's a come combination of b, martha. and what we really also see is a moral decay. when you look at these kids that are running wild, gangs are going to try and come into neighborhoods, that's what they do, it's part of their model. but when you have families that are involved, parents that are involved and a community that's not in decay moral or otherwise, you can resist a lot of that. this is a wanton disregard for
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life, this is a tragedy of the american community, and while there are many people that fight this, what we're not hearing from are the people who have a voice to go out and say this is wrong and forcibly work at this issue. martha: yeah. you look at deaths by guns in this country, right? and the analogies to trayvon martin have been discussed. some people don't like there to be any connection in those discussions, but they are, you know, they both happened recently, and both raise issues of race. tamara, and of guns. so what are we dealing with here, and is it elevate ised by this new information? >> well, i actually don't think it's about race as much as it is what david said, the moral decay of society. but why do we have that? because we're cutting education from our, from our schools, we're cutting the arts. these are kids who said they were bored. let's just say for the sake of argument that it wasn't a gang initiation and what they said was true. why were they bored? they weren't involved in extracurricular activities, they weren't involved in sports --
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martha: they were involved in sports, actually. >> but if they were running wild, they were not, they had, they had a lack of anything going on in their lives that made them not bored. and the other issue is i really don't think it's about race because we have a gun problem. the story that you talked about earlier today, the story that you talked about earlier today was a kid who walked in with mental health issues -- which is another issue -- mental health issues with an ak-47 into a school, and it was a black woman who talked him, the white boy, out of that. all of the white mass shootings are white men who are doing this. >> i've got to correct something tamara said. we don't have a gun problem. what we have is someone that had a gun illegally -- you're not allowed to own a weapon as this young man did, and i use that term loosely. so he had an illegal gun. the legal gun ownership is not the issue here. the fact that we have a situation where it's not just education, but single parent birthrate, when you look at the growing percentage of single
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parent births and people who, frankly, aren't qualified to have children and raise them correctly are just having babies, it's generational. >> but you don't have, you don't have a resolution for this. now we have, this is now, martha, an international, this is now an international problem. let me finish. this is an international problem -- >> [inaudible] >> i never said that. i'm not anti-gun, and let me make that very clear. but now we have an international problem where other countries, australia -- and we get a lot of tourism from australia, and australia has a lot of power throughout the country saying don't travel to america. do you know how much that hurts american society? >> we also have to look at this realistically and, martha, we get these calls for don't travel to america and, look, i understand the grief of the participants. there is no amount -- you know, no parent should bury their child. australia and other countries, england included, incidences of violence still went up phenomenally when they cut guns out. martha: understood. but i don't think, you know, we have to figure out the core of the problem here.
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what on earth causes the desensetyization of these young people to the point where they are able whether they're trying to get into a gang or whether they're bored or whatever it is to say we're going to get off the couch and go out and kill an innocent man? there's a problem going on here, and i think it's related to everything that we talked about. it's related to newtown, it's related to trayvon martin. it is a disregard for life that is such a serious issue that is creeping into towns like this one where people said these things never happen. and we need to face the facts, whatever they are, and you raised a number of them. >> where are the civil rights leaders around this country? [inaudible conversations] >> just for the record, a black boy, a biracial boy and a white boy. >> i'm talking about the community now. then go out into that community and tell people and help them and work with them to realize that this is not a way forward -- >> 23 they were there, david, if they were there, if they were
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there you would say that they're there for -- >> no, that's not what i'm saying. >> one other issue that i think is very important for people watching whether or not they agree with me, and that's the facebook issue. mr. johnson said that he was threatened, that his son was threatened by these kids. martha: right. >> also, the almost shooter of the ak-47 had apparently threatened his brother on facebook. these are major issues -- martha: social media has upped the ante. it amps up these kids, and it is a place where they are putting out these messages in such vile way in this case, and we need to get our arms around it. >> it's a big part of the disconnect between human life and technology. martha: we're going to talking talking -- to be talking about this a lot more. gregg: new debate about bradley manning's bombshell announcement that he plans to live the rest of his life as a woman and who, if anyone, should pay for his
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hormone treatments while he serves his 35-year prison sentence. too small. too soft. too tasty. [ both laugh ] [ male announcer ] introducing progresso's new creamy alfredo soup. inspired by perfection.
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martha: holy "batman," the wait is over, folks. ben affleck, who has made quite a comeback in recent years, is taking the role of the dark knight. the actor/director joining the star-studded cast of the 2015 sequel to this year's man of steel -- no, the batman movie, and it's rumored the movie's going to be called batman v. superman. he's the fifth a-lister to take on the iconic hero. a lot of discussion out there about whether or not ban after fleck is a good -- ben affleck is a good pick. we're about 50/50 here in "america's newsroom." gregg: bring back adam west. he's only 85 years young. all right, let's talk seriously
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about bradley manning. he is now announcing he plans to live his life behind bars as a woman. the news coming one day after manning was sentenced to 35 be years in prison for one of the worst intelligence leaks in u.s. history. the army says it does not provide hormones or sex reassignment surgery which can cost tens of thousands of dollars, raising questions over how this would really work. are taxpayers going to get stuck with this? let's bring in former prosecutor ann marie. you have to provide health care to inmates, and manning and his lawyer are saying, look, this is medically necessary. so will taxpayers and the government foot the bill? >> at this point, not. but it may turn around in a very relatively short time, and he may actually get this sort of treatment. the military has a policy at this point that says that they will not give this type of treatment. they'll give him mental health services, they'll give him counseling, but they will not
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give him this treatment. gregg: but wait a minute. manning has allegedly been diagnosed by a doctor as suffering from gender identity disorder. it is in the dms. put it up on the screen. it's identified in these two ways. desire to be or insistence that one is of the other sex, persistent discomfort about one's assigned sex, we'll get it up there. but, look, if a doctor has recognized it and a lawsuit is filed, won't a judge say i've got to recognize it? >> right. and there's a very good chance that'll happen. so far, though, in the country we have one court that has made that rule anything massachusetts. we have a patrol court has -- federal court has said that this type of hormone therapy should be given to prisoners. that is presently on appeal. but there's certainly a very good chance other courts may agree and do the same thing. and what's going to help manning in that sense is that in 2010 he did send an e-mail to his
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supervisor in the military before this all blew up saying that he's very uncomfortable with being a man, he's always felt this way, and the military did nothing about it. so that's going to give him some sympathy, too, because perhaps at that point maybe they should have dealt with it, and instead the supervisor did nothing. gregg: all right. you mentioned the federal judge in massachusetts. he ordered sex assignment surgery for a convicted murderer of all people. he said it's the only adequate treatment. maybe we have that graphic. i'll quote the judge: there is no less intrusive means to correct the prolonged violation of the eighth amendment right to adequate medical care. wow. if a lawsuit is filed in the manning case, i can envision another judge taking judicial notice. >> it depends, i mean, a, it's a lower federal court decision at this point -- gregg: yeah. he was the chief judge. >> but still it's not, it
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doesn't have precedential value in other parts of the country or other districts, but certainly they will look at it. we may wind up in a split with the circuits, it may wind up at some point going up to the supreme court. but the other very simple, perhaps, remedy which may happen here is the military could change the policy. they could also move him into a federal facility where he could potentially get the type of hormone therapy. they could just move him. that might be an easier way -- gregg: all right. got to leave it at that. well, the saw da of bradley manning continues. and people out there, don't send me angry e-mails that i referred to him as him instead of her. i don't do what bradley manning wants me to do. martha? martha: there are some big developments where the cells of a woman who died of cancer decades ago are now among the most useful in all of science, but what rights do her descendants have to her genetic
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code? fascinating piece, we'll be right back.
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martha: so an epic clash with technology. decades ago doctors saved a woman's cancer cells without her consent. today those cells are among the most useful in lab work and science. dr. marc siegel is live in our new york city newsroom with the latest on this. >> when henrietta died in 1951, her cancer cells continued to grow becoming the most useful cells in the history of science. but they were used without permission, and they have led from everything from cancer cures to treatments to polio and parkinson's disease. now they are the very first cell to be genetically mapped. this may lead to many more cures, but it has also raised privacy concerns for the family,
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concerns that we will all face when our genes are mapped. >> we've got to maintain some kind of, you know, control over the information out there, because we don't know what damage it'll do. nobody's concerned about privacy until the lack of privacy comes back and burn you. >> the national institutes of health brokered a deal with the reactions' family this month -- lacks' family this month. a genetics expert believes they will now have some deserved control of the cells without slowing the wheels of science. >> you would wish that perhaps at that time we'd had more thought put into the whole issue of informed consent and privacy. that was just not the norm at that point. we have moved a long way in those 62 years to, i would argue now, a greater sense of sensitivity. but we're still on that pathway, and we shouldn't be too smug about it. >> dr. collins says there's an important clash between the needs of science and your own rights to your own body. this is a new concern, and
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rebecca sloot who wrote a famous book on this says we have to have our souls and ourselves, and that may lead us to say we need control. martha: important discussion to have. very interesting story there. thank you so much, doctor. gregg: new concerns for a top democratic prospect in the 2016 presidential race as hillary clinton gets what is likely some unwelcome attention in the past couple of weeks. we're going to look at who is seizing the opportunity to test the waters to try and take her out. [ male announcer ] america's favorite endless shrimp is back!
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...and a great deal. .] but it won't last forever. grrrr ahhh let's leave the deals to hotels.com. oh my gosh this is so cool... awesome! perfect! save up to 30% plus an extra 12% off with coupon... now until labor day. only at hotels.com martha: i asked people to tweet me @ martha maccallum by the way what they think about the batman choice. he better work out. we understand he will work out three hours a day to get ready for this role, ben aflac. -- affleck. one of our fans says about what bill hemmer? maybe batmannish or robin. what do you think. batman or

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